Synthesis of La-substituted aluminosilicates with hierarchical pores by pH-adjusting method

A novel La-containing hierarchical aluminosilicate (La-HA) was synthesized from zeolite Y precursors by pH-adjusting method. XRF showed that La-HA possessed a high La and Al loading (with SiO2/La2O3 molar ratio of 76.1, and SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratio of 29.5). TEM analysis indicated that La-HA displayed the ordered hexagonal arrays of uniform mesopores. N2 adsorption–desorption demonstrated that the pore size and wall thickness of La-HA were greater than those of Al-HA. Diffuse reflectance UV–visible spectroscopy demonstrated that La3+ was incorporated in the framework of the calcined materials. Such aluminosilicates demonstrated superior catalytic performance in heavy oil catalytic cracking.